by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Wake Forest University: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Wake Forest University, 16% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $12,287 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $4,989, or about 90.7% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Counting every undergraduate at Wake Forest University, 14% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, for a typical $6,083 per year. This works out to 21.9% higher than the freshman federal average of $4,989.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $12,166 after two years and $24,332 by the fourth year. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 14% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,083 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 765 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $4,653,799 |
The middle borrower at Wake Forest University owes $19,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $21,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Wake Forest University.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $12,500 |
| 75th percentile | $29,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $36,500 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Wake Forest University.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Wake Forest University.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 473 | $28,983 |
| Completed (graduates) | 415 | $30,000 |
| Did not complete | 58 | $24,829 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $356.73/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Wake Forest University.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 431 | $29,208 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 42 | $24,629 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Wake Forest University.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Wake Forest University follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 0.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1096 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $18,371 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $20,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,593 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Wake Forest University.
The Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Subsidized loans pause interest while you are in school; unsubsidized loans do not. That difference compounds over four years, so the type of loan you take matters as much as the amount.
Did You Know?
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.